Holocene mortuary practices in Pre-Hispanic populations of the southern Sierras Pampeanas Region

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyze the spatial and temporal variation of mortuary practices of the populations that inhabited the southern region of Sierras Pampeanas during Middle and Late Holocene. The sample is composed by 15 burials (19 individuals) from 11 archaeological sites located in Córdoba province (Argentina), recovered during archaeological salvage activities carried out from 1998 to 2007. Nine radiocarbon dates obtained directly from bone collagen are available for these sites, ranging from 3360 ± 20 and 345 ± 20 14C BP. Generally speaking, it can be said that a) there is a continuity in mortuary practices, evidenced by the coexistence of simple and multiple primary burials, with multiple secondary burials during Middle and Late Holocene, and b) there is a remarkable diversity in mortuary practices and their modalities (simple and double primary burials, multiple secondary burials, position of the body, etc). Several statistical test (X2, correspondence analysis, multi-response permutation) were applied to analyze the regional differentiation of mortuary practices, wich exhibit a clear pattern composed by two clusters: Northeast/Sierras Chicas, and the Northwest/South/Traslasierra.